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Searching for generalized neutrino interactions in direct detection experiments with EνES

Jesús Miguel Celestino-Ramírez, F. J. Escrihuela, L. J. Flores, O. G. Miranda, R. Sánchez-Vélez

TL;DR

This work addresses constraining generalized neutrino interactions (GNI) in the sub-MeV solar-neutrino regime using direct-detection experiments. It adopts a neutral-current effective Lagrangian with Lorentz structures $V$, $A$, $S$, and $T$ and couplings $\epsilon^{e,j}_{\alpha\beta}$, reducing to $24$ real parameters after setting CP phases to zero and neglecting the pseudoscalar term; the elastic neutrino–electron scattering cross section is expressed in terms coefficients $A$, $B$, $C$, and $D$ and includes SM–GNI interference for diagonal flavor, with a xenon-specific effective electron count $Z^{\mathrm{Xe}}_{eff}(T_e)$. The analysis uses published data from LZ, PandaX-4T, and XENONnT to derive 90% C.L. bounds on all 24 parameters, and provides DARWIN projections showing substantial improvements. The results show that tensor GNI couplings yield the strongest limits, XENONnT often dominating, and that direct-detection data offer a competitive, complementary probe to solar, CE$\nu$NS, and high-energy neutrino constraints.

Abstract

We investigate the sensitivity of present and future direct detection experiments to generalized neutrino interactions (GNI) through elastic neutrino electron scattering. Using data from LUX-ZEPLIN, PandaX-4T, and XENONnT, we derive constraints on vector, axial-vector, scalar, and tensor effective couplings, and compare them with existing limits. Our results show that current xenon-based detectors already provide competitive bounds, with XENONnT offering the most stringent constraints due to its larger exposure and reduced backgrounds. Among the GNI couplings, the scalar contributions remain more weakly constrained, while tensor interactions yield the strongest limits. We also present projected sensitivities for the DARWIN experiment, showing potential improvements. These results demonstrate the capability of direct detection experiments, originally designed for dark matter searches, to provide complementary and competitive constraints on generalized neutrino interactions.

Searching for generalized neutrino interactions in direct detection experiments with EνES

TL;DR

This work addresses constraining generalized neutrino interactions (GNI) in the sub-MeV solar-neutrino regime using direct-detection experiments. It adopts a neutral-current effective Lagrangian with Lorentz structures , , , and and couplings , reducing to real parameters after setting CP phases to zero and neglecting the pseudoscalar term; the elastic neutrino–electron scattering cross section is expressed in terms coefficients , , , and and includes SM–GNI interference for diagonal flavor, with a xenon-specific effective electron count . The analysis uses published data from LZ, PandaX-4T, and XENONnT to derive 90% C.L. bounds on all 24 parameters, and provides DARWIN projections showing substantial improvements. The results show that tensor GNI couplings yield the strongest limits, XENONnT often dominating, and that direct-detection data offer a competitive, complementary probe to solar, CENS, and high-energy neutrino constraints.

Abstract

We investigate the sensitivity of present and future direct detection experiments to generalized neutrino interactions (GNI) through elastic neutrino electron scattering. Using data from LUX-ZEPLIN, PandaX-4T, and XENONnT, we derive constraints on vector, axial-vector, scalar, and tensor effective couplings, and compare them with existing limits. Our results show that current xenon-based detectors already provide competitive bounds, with XENONnT offering the most stringent constraints due to its larger exposure and reduced backgrounds. Among the GNI couplings, the scalar contributions remain more weakly constrained, while tensor interactions yield the strongest limits. We also present projected sensitivities for the DARWIN experiment, showing potential improvements. These results demonstrate the capability of direct detection experiments, originally designed for dark matter searches, to provide complementary and competitive constraints on generalized neutrino interactions.
Paper Structure (6 sections, 10 equations, 2 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 6 sections, 10 equations, 2 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. GNI formalism
  3. Experimental description and analysis
  4. Results
  5. Conclusions
  6. Acknowledgments

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Vector and axial-vector GNI parameters $\Delta\chi^2$ profiles obtained from our analyses. The upper (lower) row corresponds to the vector (axial-vector) flavor-conserving parameters. The solid lines stand for the results using data from PandaX-4T, LUX-ZEPLIN, and XENONnT. The combined analysis for these three experiments is shown with the dashed-dotted line. We also present the allowed region for the coming experiment DARWIN with a dashed line.
  • Figure 2: Scalar and tensor GNI parameters $\Delta\chi^2$ profiles obtained from our analyses. The upper (lower) row corresponds to the scalar (tensor) flavor-conserving parameters. The solid lines stand for the results using data from PandaX-4T, LUX-ZEPLIN, and XENONnT. The combined analysis for these three experiments is shown with the dashed-dotted line. We also present the projected sensitivity for the future DARWIN experiment with a dashed line.